[+/-] : Team gold goes to China in Men's Gymnastics

Chen Yibing holds up his fist after his performance

China dominated Men's Gymnastics today, winning the Team Gold with a total of 286.125 points. Japan won the silver medal with 278.875 points and the United States won the bronze medal with 275.850 points.
China performed modestly on its first two apparatuses, the Floor Exercise and Pommel, but blew the field away with a masterful display in both the Rings and Vault.
A relaxed and smiling Chinese team was led by its veterans, Huang Xu, Yang Wei and Li Xiaopeng.
Huang performed well in the Rings, scoring 16.000. However, his performance was just a taste of things to come because Yang and Chen Yibing scored 16.300 and 16.575 in the Rings respectively, helping China be the top-ranking team on the apparatus.
All-Around specialist Yang continued his good form by scoring a high 16.600 in the Vault. Li then ensured that China would also be the highest-scoring team in the Vault by scoring 16.775, taking China's score in the Vault to 49.325.
China practically secured its gold medal by the end of the fifth rotation, dominating the Parallel Bars. All three Chinese gymnasts, Huang, Yang and Li, scored over 16 points on the apparatus.
China still managed to be the best-performed team in the Horizontal Bar, despite the apparatus being seen as one of the team's weak links. Youngster Zou Kai finished off China's gold-medal-winning performance by scoring 15.975 – the best individual performance in the Horizontal Bar.
Prior to the Team final, Japan was seen as China's main rival for the gold medal. However, Japan rarely threatened China and was only able to trump China in the Floor Exercise.
Japan's attempt to win the gold medal came totally unstuck in the Vault – it performed very poorly and was the lowest ranking team on the apparatus with only 46.750 points.
The United States looked as though it was going to challenge Japan for the silver medal, but its performance in the last two rotations was poor. The United States' Joey Hagerty performed poorly in the Floor Exercise and Kevin Tan was the worst performed individual in the Pommel.
The gold medal is a glorious success for China, who failed to win a medal in the Men's Team event at Athens 2004 after winning the gold medal at Sydney 2000. Three members of today's team, Yang, Li and Huang were all part of the gold-medal-winning team in Sydney.

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[+/-] : Coughlin takes gold in Women's 100m Backstroke

Coughlin competes
Natalie Coughlin of the United States won gold medal in the Women's 100m Backstroke final on Tuesday at the National Aquatics Center in an American record time of 58.96.
Coughlin, the defending Olympic champion, was second fastest qualifier into the final and sped out hard to see off the challenge from Monday's world record setter Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe .
This was the first gold medal for the US women in what has been a disappointing Games in the pool for them so far.
World record holder Coventry qualified fastest for the final but after her busy program she was unable to match Coughlin's speed and finished with the silver medal in 59.19.
Margaret Hoelzer, also from the US, touched out Gemma Spofforth of Great Britain to take bronze in 59.34.

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[+/-] : The green environment of the 'Bird's Nest'

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[+/-] : Torchbearer Wang Zigang passes the flame to torchbearer He Zhigang

Torchbearer Wang Zigang (L) passes the flame to torchbearer He Zhigang (R) of the Naxi ethnic minority. The Torch Relay in Kunming concluded on June 9.

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[+/-] : Harmony Olympics

harmony olympics; harmony china.welcome to china,welcome to beijing 2008 olympic games.

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[+/-] : Perfectly infused with Olympic spirit, sample ticket unveiled

Sample ticket for Olympic opening ceremony
Sample ticket for Olympic opening ceremony

Rong Jun, deputy director of the BOCOG Ticketing Center, revealed Wednesday the details of the third and final phase of Olympic ticket sales. These tickets can be kept as collectibles, as they will be designed with the Olympic "lucky clouds" emblem, representing harmony between Chinese artistry and the Olympic spirit.





Plans for Olympic ticket designs began as early as 2006. Guided by the requirements of the entire image and look of the Beijing Olympic Games, creators have carried out the concepts of "High-tech Olympics," "People's Olympics," and "Green Olympics," to come up with motifs. During the entire process, BOCOG continued to respectively follow guidelines on the tickets' specifications and contents set forth by the International Olympic Committee.




The sample tickets
With continued innovation, tickets have become information-richer and more distinguishable for Olympic fans. In order to come up with the final product, every aspect of ticket design and composition, including paper and ink, underwent serious scrutiny by creative experts. The result: an efficient ticket design full of unique Olympic flavor.



Sample ticket for sports competitionsSample ticket for accredited personnel
At the press conference, BOCOG also revealed a sample ticket for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Fantastic images of the "Bird's Nest" and "lucky clouds" are creatively printed on a bed of red and yellow, fully embodying the energetic and elevated atmosphere of the opening ceremony.

Sample ticket for accredited personnel

BOCOG placated concerns about counterfeit tickets, saying that many anti-fake measures, including the application of multiple electronic and physical technologies were used to eliminate fake tickets, speed up ticket identification and avoid large scale speculative and profit-taking cases, thus protecting the interests of ticket buyers.

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[+/-] : Olympic flame arrives in Japan

The flame arrived in Tokyo at 6am local time on Friday from its last stop in Australia's capital of Canberra. It was carried off the plane by the vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, or BOCOG, Li Binghua. China's ambassador to Japan, Cui Tiankai, and Chiharu Igaya, vice president of the IOC, were at the airport to welcome the Chinese delegation. There was also enormous support from the overseas Chinese community in Japan.
In preparation for the torch relay on Saturday, the flame will be transferred to Nagano, where the Winter Olympic Games were hosted in 1998.
Japan's Olympic officials held a press conference two days ago to formally announce the list of selected torchbearers for the Nagano leg of the relay. 80 people including former Olympic champions, sports celebrities, government officials and representatives from the public sector are set to carry the torch.

This is Ai Fukuhara, a well-known table tennis player. She started playing pingpong at the age of three and has won many Japanese national championships. She also spent a long time in China where she received training and has many Chinese fans. Many people see her as a sort of ambassador between the two countries.

Torchbearer Ai Fukuhara said, "I made so many Chinese friends through playing pingpong. I also studied the Chinese language and culture and so I learnt a lot in China."
In addition to preparing for the torch relay, Fukuhara is also practicing for the Olympics.
Torchbearer Ai Fukuhara said, "I grew up with the guidance and help of Chinese coaches. I'm excited to take part in this year's Olympics and I hope the Beijing Games will be a great success."
Some Chinese students studying in Japan have also been selected to be torchbearers.
Torchbearer Zhang Bi said, "I'll have a big smile on my face when I run. I want to show the whole world that Chinese youths are energetic, healthy and have a positive spirit."
As a modern Olympic city, Nagano's torch relay route is intended to reflect the passion and spirit for the Olympics. The flame's journey on this leg will begin at the historic site of the city's Labor and Social Security Center and pass through many stadiums of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. Organizers say the 18.5-kilometer journey was designed to reflect the annual Marathon commemorating the Olympic movement.
The city of Nagano is also called "the roof of Japan" due to its high altitude. The city is a tourism hotspot in Japan - for its coolness in summer and mountains blanketed in snow for winter ski. Many local residents say the arrival of the Beijing Olympic flame will rekindle memories of the Winter Olympics ten years ago.

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[+/-] : olympic Swimwear show

http://fashion0359.zhan.cn.yahoo.com

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[+/-] : China indignant, opposed to U.S. House resolution on Tibet

China expressed early Friday morning strong indignation and opposition over a resolution on Tibet adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The resolution proposed by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "flagrantly distorted the history and reality of Tibet", said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu in a statement.

Jiang said the resolution, which condemned for no reason at all the legal measures taken by the government of Tibet Autonomous Region to deal with the violent crimes in Lhasa last month, was "a rude interference into China's internal affairs and seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people."

"China is strongly indignant and opposed to this resolution," she said.

There was sufficient evidence to prove that the Lhasa riots were masterminded by the Dalai Lama clique, and staged by "Tibet independence" forces in and out of China, she said.

What happened in Lhasa on March 14 was not at all "peaceful demonstration" or "non-violence" activities as labeled by the Dalai clique, but naked serious crimes of violence, Jiang said.

Some U.S. Congress members utterly confounded right and wrong by turning a blind eye to the mobs who conducted assaulting, looting and arson in Lhasa and leaving the Dalai clique, who masterminded the violent crimes, free from condemnations, but instead blaming the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Jiang said. She said those U.S. lawmakers also harbored hidden motives. "Here we sternly warn those U.S. Congress members: The more youdo to shield the Dalai clique and disrupt the Beijing Olympics, the more thoroughly the true colors of them will be exposed, and the more Chinese people are determined to safeguard stability and ethnic unity in Tibet and host a successful Olympic Games," Jiang said.

"We demand the U.S. Congress see clearly the Dalai Lama's true color of engaging in activities of splitting China in the cloak of religion, realize the Dalai clique's nature of real antagonism and violence under the disguise of seeking dialogue and peace...and immediately stop wrongful remarks and deeds that interfere into China's internal affairs, hurt the Chinese people's feeling and harm the China-U.S. relations," said Jiang.

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[+/-] : IOC chief condemns violence against Olympic torch relay

IOC President Jacques Rogge at the press conference

Special: Torchbearer exhibits courage in Paris
Assaults and attacks on the Olympic torch are unacceptable, said International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge here on Thursday.
The Olympic torch relay has been repeatedly disrupted by Tibetan separatists and their supporters who tried to grab the torch or block the relay route.
Rogge told a news conference that he felt sad about the disruptions and what shocked him most was the violence against disabled torch bearers.
The disabled bearers are defenseless and violence against them is unacceptable, said Rogge, adding that the attacks and assaults would have bad influence on children.
Despite the disruptions, Rogge stressed that the torch relay must go on and he had no doubt that Beijing would hold a magnificent Games.

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[+/-] : Jin: Protecting the torch is my duty!

Chinese Paralympic athlete Jin Jing has garnered much attention from the media for the bravery she exhibited as the third torchbearer in the fifth leg of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay, which kicked off at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, at 12:30 (GMT +2) on April 7.
The 27-year-old wheelchair user from Shanghai had been repositioned one kilometer off the original course due to last minute modifications to the route.
Carrying the torch along the Seine River, Jin demonstrated great valor when a ", attempting to disrupt and sabotage the torch relay, reached for her wheelchair and lunged toward her. Without concern for her own safety, Jin did her best to protect the flame, her face exhibiting courage and pride amidst the chaotic situation.
In that moment, it was easy to see why her friends call her "the smiling angel in a wheelchair."
"Local police were separated for me for a moment when activists began to disturb the relay. I was attack three times. The most terrible moment was when three or four men came to rob the torch," she recalled. "But I couldn't give up. As a torchbearer, that's my duty."

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[+/-] : 'Water Cube' brightens the night sky

Beijing's "Water Cube" is illuminated

Beijing's "Water Cube" offers a sign of the times with illuminated numbers

Normally a water-like blue, The National Aquatics Center, also known as the 'Water Cube,' brightens the night sky with color on March 31, the same day the Olympic torch is welcomed to Beijing at Tian'anmen Square.

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[+/-] : Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' welcomes spring

Workers plant trees and plants around the National Stadium.

The arrival of spring has kick-started forestation work around the National Stadium, commonly referred to as the "Bird's Nest". The project began on April 4 and, when finished, will include 2,742 newly planted trees and 77,000 sq m of new grass.
The National Stadium will host the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics and football competitions. After the Olympic Games, the stadium will become a center for sports, cultural and creative activities,. Its post-Games use is currently undergoing extensive planning.

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[+/-] : The National Aquatics Center

The "Water Cube"
Venue: National Aquatics Center;
Location: Olympic Green;
Total land surface: 79,532 sq m;
Seats: 6,000 permanent and 11,000 temporary;
Competitions: Swimming, Diving, Synchronized Swimming;
Groundbreaking date: December 24, 2003;
Completion date: January 28, 2008;

The interior

A night shot

The exterior

center in the rain

A day shot

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[+/-] : Chinese President announces official start of Olympic torch relay

Chinese President Hu Jintao lit a cauldron at Beijing's Tiananmen Square with the Olympic torch Monday morning, marking the official start of the round-the-world relay.
The ceremony kicked off on the square at the heart of Beijing two hours after a specially chartered Air China plane carrying the flame from Greece touched down at about 9 a.m.
Vice President Xi Jinping, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), addressed the ceremony.
Zhou Yongkang, member of the nine-man Political Bureau Standing Committee, and other CPC and state leaders attended the ceremony.
Also present was International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission chairman Hein Verbruggen, who addressed the ceremony on behalf of IOC president Jacques Rogge.
The flame is scheduled to depart from Beijing on Tuesday for the Kazakh city of Almaty, the first stop in its global tour of 135 cities.
The relay will cover 137,000 kilometers in 130 days before the flame finally arrives at the National Stadium in Beijing on Aug 8,2008 for the opening ceremony.

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[+/-] : Welcome to Beijing

In 2008, when you are at the grand occasion of the Olympic Games with the theme slogan of "One World One Dream", you will also find yourselves experiencing the oriental ancient civilization of Beijing.
Beijing was the capital city of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties of China. The largest palace of the world, the Forbidden City, is located on the central axis of Beijing city. Together with the Summer Palace - a royal park, the Great Wall, Beijing Royal Quadrangle Courtyard etc, Beijing has 7300 cultural relics and historical sites, as well as more than 200 scenic spots.
Beijing, the Capital City, is the political, cultural and diplomatic centre of China. It has become a modern international cosmopolitan city with more than 11 million people. The Capital International Airport, 23.5 km from the city centre, is China's largest and most advanced airport. There are close to 40 five-star hotels in Beijing and the international direct distance dialing can reach 240 countries and regions.
August and September are the end of summer and the beginning of autumn in Beijing, with the highest temperature around 30°C and the lowest temperature around 18°C. This is the best season of the year in Beijing when the sky is blue and clear. The city feels especially spacious and airy when the distant lofty Yanshan Ridge could be seen from the height of the Forbidden City. Beijing can be said to have the charm of antiquity as well as the spirit of modernity indeed.

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